If you’re like me, you are wondering where 2025 has gone. It hasn’t been an easy year for me, but I have so much for which to be thankful.

While friends and relatives were celebrating “firsts” of anniversaries, babies, homes, and such, I had my own “firsts”. These included: first major surgery, first hospital stay-complete with hospital food, first time being unable to stand up without help, first car trip that hurt so bad I cried, first long recovery with inability to work, first physical therapy, and more! I’m thankful to be on the other side of all of that, thankful for wonderful people who made things better, thankful for people who prayed, and thankful for a God Who granted healing and brought me back to my job and great team members here at TFV.

We, the staff, are thankful for you! If you weren’t so loyal, we would have no reason to be here! You are the ones who make long treks and stay for hours to shop. You are also the ones who drop in every couple of days to see if something has arrived. You are the ones who chat and share stories and ideas with us and each other. You are the ones we miss and worry about when we don’t see you for long times. Thanks for coming! Keep coming. Come often!

Thank you, for your participation in all things TFV. You bring loads of great consignment items. Our inventory depends upon you and we are well stocked! The quantity keeps us on our toes and gives us a challenge. Plus, it’s fun to have just the right items for shoppers, who often describe their purchases as “blessings”.

We are also thankful for your support. So many of our “newbies” say a friend told them about TFV. Thank you for the “vote of confidence”. Good personal experiences you share with friends is about the best advertisement we can get. The more people who become part our “family”, the broader our outreach and the more materials circulating. That produces a bigger overall impact on our own families, our communities, and even our world. Did you know there are missionaries in other countries teaching, and they are using your things, bought here! Is that neat, or what?

I hope all of you have a wonderful Thanksgiving together with your family and friends. We close at noon, Wednesday, Nov. 26, to go home and get the turkeys roasting. Regular hours resume on Monday, Dec. 1. Please note that we are not taking consignment in December.

Thanksgiving is about more than eating and football. It’s about counting our blessings, thanking God for them, and reflecting on the first Thanksgiving. Those early Americans thanked God for His many blessings upon them. We modern Americans are so spoiled we maybe would not have consider what they had as blessings! Their rough beginning in the New World brought hardship and death, but God graciously preserved some to carry on.

Time for a TFV “commercial”! Come in for some great materials related to or useful for your Thanksgiving holiday. We have books, videos, and more, to learn about the people and events of that first Thanksgiving. We have games, puzzles, movies, music, and more to entertain your family and guests over the long weekend. We even have cookbooks, if you need some last-minute inspiration, help, or just a new dish on the buffet! You may just need to grab a good book to read while you lay on the couch waiting for the oven timer, recovering from the meal, or avoiding the 3rd football game of the day.

Have a blessed Thanksgiving, give thanks to God Who reigns above, and see you soon!

Reading is Rewarding!

Katie